In a bid to develop areas flanking high-speed rail stations, the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and Ministry of Railways have jointly signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for ‘Station Area Development along Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) Project’ (SMART).
The MoU was inked for four high-speed stations — Sabarmati, Surat in Gujarat and Virar and Thane in Maharashtra, out of the 12 stations in the route. Surat, Virar and Thane are green field projects while Sabarmati is a brown field development.
The project — SMART envisages to develop surrounding areas of MAHSR stations to enhance accessibility and convenience of commuters and other stakeholders as well as to promote economic activities in the vicinity of station areas.
The project would facilitate and enhance institutional capacity of State governments, municipal corporations and urban development authorities to plan, develop and manage surrounding areas of MAHSR stations.
The MoHUA along with State governments of Gujarat, Maharashtra and JICA are in deliberations with officers from Japan Embassy, JICA HQ, JICA India Office, JICA experts’ team, Ministry of Railways, National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited, MoHUA, and Town and Country Planning Organization (TPCO) for the project.
The deliberations for ‘Station Area Development Plans’ for Sabarmati, Surat, Virar and Thane HSR stations are being planned to follow the experiences and methodologies adopted in Japan, India and other countries for Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and Station Area Development.
